Night over the Burrow
by tanpopo no hana
Summary: Ron's thoughts as he's sitting alone under the night sky. While pondering his life and a letter from a certain bushy haired someone he receives an unexpected visit from George. PostDH. T for a few swear words that cross his mind.
1. Chapter 1

A/N Hi everyone out there :o) Welcome to my first HP fanfic... tadadaaa. This was actually supposed to be a one shot, but it somehow developed a life of it's own and got longer than I intended it to be. So I decided to make two chapters out of it. But that will most likely be it. Well, the second part is already half written, so it shouldn't be too long till I post it. I would finish it now, but I'm too tired.

I apologize in advance for grammar and spelling errors. English is actually not my first language, so I hope you won't get a headache from reading this...

Disclaimer: Not mine, what a surprise. Not making any money with it either. Again, what a surprise.

Enjoy!

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Ron sighed as he stared out at the black sky. Despite it being the beginning of September the night was still very warm, almost humid. Not a single gust of wind moved the eerie locking black outlines of the trees in the distance, or the puffy clouds in the sky.

Absentmindedly he chucked a few pieces of dirt down into the garden. He was listening hard, as if expecting the little clusters composed of old leaves and the general grime up here to make a loud crashing noise when hitting the ground. He had half hoped for one. It would have been satisfying.

However, the only sound to be heard was a distant rustling (maybe the gnomes in the garden, he thought) and the hooting of an owl. It should have been comforting, but instead he felt a chill rund down his spine despite the warm temperature.

Annoyed with himself he picked up the letter again.

„Dear Ron" it said on the topmost line. He smiled. Weired how big of a difference there could be in having your mum address a letter to you in this fashion and... well, your girlfriend. It was also very strange to think of her in this way. Not bad, of course, but he had become so used of admiring her from, well, from a save distance.

All this was more than just slightly overwhelming.

He turned the envelope over and studied the pretty stamp that sported a cuddly koala bear. Once again he regretted his decision of not having gone with her. It had seemed like the right thing to do, with his family so... he gulped and cleared his throat. Everything had been such a mess after they returned to the Burrow. Hell, everything still was a bloody mess. His throat started to burn ominously, and he had to take a few deep breaths and think hard about the smell of Hermione's hair to remain calm.

He held up the letter again. Due to the lack of light from the quarter moon half hidden behind clouds, he actually couldn't make out the words really well. But having read the letter six times since it arrived this morning by a very important looking big owl, sporting a little ring on it's legs which identified it as belonging to the „International Wizarding Mail Service, London", he didn't really need to read the lines, so much as remember them.

„I'm so sorry it took me a whole week to write again. Thank you so much for your letter. And I don't think it sounded stupid! Actually, I think it was really sweet :o).

We're currently visiting Sydney and my parents have now set a date for returning home. Since they moved here with all their belongings and sold our old house it's quite a lot of work getting everything organized for moving back. You wouldn't believe all the paper work, it's quite mad."

Here he skipped a whole paragraph containing her detailed description of all the things they had to organize. Honestly... she obviously had forgotten again that she wasn't talking to a muggle (who would maybe have been able to make sense of all those agency names, although he doubted it) and moreover, he really wouldn't have minded if her parents had decided to just stay in Australia for good.

Not, that the Grangers weren't nice enough people. The one time he and Harry had visited Hermione's home for a weekend they had gone quite out of their way to make them feel at home. But... well, back then he had only been „one of Hermione's friends" to them, hadn't he? And Mr. Granger had seemed extraordinarily fond of his only daughter. Joking around with her and even calling her „my little sunshine" once. Well, just once. Hermione had not missed his and Harry's fake coughs and forbidden her dad through clenched teeth to use that term of endearment in front of other people again. Harry and he had gotten quite a good time out of teasing her for at least a month with it afterwards.

He grinned and skimmed the letter till he reached the end of it.

„So I'll definitely be back by the end of September. I'm flooing back from the Ministry of Magic in Canberra around the 25th I think. I'm so sorry we won't be able to spend my birthday together, but my parents would be so sad if I left before. I so hope the works at Hogwarts will be finished by then!!

Well, I have to leave now, since we're going out for dinner. There's so much more I want to tell you... I promise to write again soon. I really miss you. Did I tell you that I put a picture of you in my wallet? Hope you don't think it's too girlish or something, but this way you're sort of here with me.

I love you!

Yours, Hermione"

His cheeks felt flushed, despite having read this particular part countless times more than the rest of the letter already. He couldn't wait for her to get back.

Sighing, he put the letter back into it's envelope and placed it next to him.

So she wouldn't be here for her birthday. As sad as he was that they would not spend the day together, it also gave him a few more days to solve his problem: What to get her. And moreover, how to get her anything at all. If he didn't get a job soon he would have to ask either Harry or the... or _George_ for money.

_Fuck_!

He picked up the nearest rock and threw it as hard as he could. Unsatisfactorily there was again no sound of anything hitting the ground. Why the hell was it that he couldn't have any line of thought that wouldn't end up with reminding him that he was fucking _dead_.

The burning in his throat was back again. And there weren't even any good rocks left to throw. Only little, pathetic pebbles and dirt. He had been up here too often in the last weeks. The ghoul, too, didn't seemed too thrilled of having him come through his attic all the time. He was in a foul enough mood already, having been banned up there once more. Ron's room had been much to his liking it seemed.

Well, he sure didn't pity him. _He_ had to throw out his old bed and everything in it... ghoul smell was very resilient.

He laid back on his back and took a few deep breaths. Well at least the burning had subsided. Good old ghoul. Always a save topic to think about.

Closing his eyes his thoughts wandered back to Hermione's present. He really wanted to impress her, show her that he was capable of making her a... well, a girlfriend-kind-of-gift. But he also didn't want to overdo it. But seeing as he only had a few sickles down in his room the danger of him buying her a diamond ring was rather thin in any case.

_Damn it all_.

Angry at himself and at the whole world in general he opened his eyes... and let out a scream.

He had jumped a few feet backward and reached for his wand before recognizing the person who was hovering on a rather outdated broom in front of him

"George! What the hell!" he said, feeling his heart hammer against his chest.

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If you liked it it would be great if you left me a review! Criticism is ok, too, of course (but try to make it constructive, please). You're also welcome to point out my mistakes! Since it's 2:15 am there are bound to be quite a few. I reread it, but, well, that's not saying too much, now is it... _yaaawn_


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome to chapter two :o)

I'm really sorry it took so long to post despite me telling you that I'd have it finished in no time at all...! But I've got a scapegoat. Ha! It's the amazing Solstice Muse and her incredible stories „Within These Walls" and „Without Walls" which made me abandon everything else for a while.

I'm not to blame! Yes, I admit I have no backbone, but in case you haven't read her stories yet (and if you have a lot of time on your hands) go and read them now!! But probably I was like the only person here who hadn't done that yet. Well, until book seven came out I hadn't been to this site in ages...

Anyways, I really want to thank everybody who left me a review! They mean a lot!

In response to enchantedsleeper's question: I really don't know if I'll finish it I'm afraid. I thought I was never going to, mostly because I had stopped coming to this site. But I had a lot of fun writing this here and if I find the time and inspiration I might. I apologize for starting but not finishing it way back then!!

Also sorry about the odd quotation marks in the first chapter. I know it's not supposed to be like that in English, but my stupid Word programme did that automatically. I fixed it in this chappy :o)

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"George! What the hell!" Ron said, feeling his heart hammer against his chest.

He regretted yelling immediately. Temporarily speechless he stared at his brother.

Even though George had been home all the time since the battle, they hadn't really spend much time together. Well, maybe they had, if being in the same room for hours without talking more than a few words counted as spending time together.

He was glad George didn't shut himself up in his room anymore, but he also suspected the reason for that might just be that everything there reminded him too much of Fred, and not that he was so fond of being surrounded by his family.

George had reminded him of a sleepwalker. Well, after the funeral had been over at least. Before that... god, it had been awful. He had never seen any of the twins shed so much as a tear up till then.

Only when George had broken down crying in his mothers arms a few days after the battle, had he himself realized that Fred was not coming back... that he was really gone.

That George was only George now.

He had wanted to comfort him. To do anything. To somehow make it all better. But George had kept his distance and whenever the two of them had suddenly found themselves alone together for some reason George had taken flight.

Bill had gone into his room the day before the funeral and he had stayed in there for a long time. In fact, he hadn't come out until the following morning when they'd had to leave. Ron didn't know what Bill had said to George, but when he left the twins' room he had followed him out of it.

George had held a speech. Ron still didn't know how he had been able to do that. He had seemed so calm, not even really nervous of standing in front of all those people. He had just started talking and at the end had let off a whole stack of their fire crackers. He hadn't cried and Ron had never seen him do so since. He seemed to be doing better, but sometimes he'd just stare out the window or read a book without turning a page for hours and Ron had no idea what exactly was going on inside him.

Ron wondered if they would ever get their old George back. He wanted him back. Hell, he'd give a lot to have him make fun of him right now.

George was still staring at him. God, he should really say something. What should he say?

While desperately trying to decide on an opening statement that wouldn't somehow be the wrong one George seemed to take pity on him.

"Bit jumpy, aren't we?"

He hadn't smiled while saying it, but Ron felt his muscles relax and let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding.

"Well excuse me for not having expected any visitors at two in the morning.

What are you doing, flying around here at this time anyway?"

"Mum'd kill you if she knew you're up here, ya know?" George said, ignoring the question and taking a seat where Ron had been lying a minute before.

"Yeah well, she doesn't know though, does she?" Ron said, sitting back down as well.

George leaned back on his elbows and looked out over the fields next to their house.

"So, you come up here a lot?"

Ron glanced up at the sky. "Sorta. I mean, sometimes when I just wanna get away from everything. Or when Harry starts snoring again and I can't get any sleep anyway."

George smiled a little at that. "Yeah, sounds like a harvester that one".

Ron snorted and looked at his brother, trying to discern why he had willingly started a conversation with him in the dead of night. Not that he minded, but after all this time in silence he was unsure how to go about it.

George suddenly bend over and picked something up that had caught his eye.

"Oh, I see, ickle Ronniekins is enjoying his love letters in solitude", he said waving Hermione's letter at him with a slight smirk on his face.

"Funny" Ron huffed, but unable to suppress a smile. Now this had actually sounded like the old George.

"So, what's new with her? When's she coming back?"

"End of this month probably. She wants to spend her birthday with her parents."

Neither of them said anything for a while. George turned the letter over in his fingers and stared at it, obviously lost in thought.

"What are you gonna do then?" He suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Ron replied, looking over to him.

"I mean, what are you gonna do after she's back. You know..." he waved one of his hands around a little, "...in general. What are you gonna do with your life?".

Ron stared at him. Where had that question come from?

"Um, well, I... I'm not sure. I mean, Harry is really determined to become an auror and Hermione wants to go back to Hogwarts as soon as she sets foot back into this country...you know... the NEWTs and all that."

He paused, casting a look at George and then gathered up some pebbles and started throwing them over the edge.

"That doesn't answer my question, though" George said, now looking at him.

Ron furrowed his brows and threw one with extra force.

"I dunno... Becoming an auror sounds cool, but well, I'm not Harry. I mean, we've been hunting those damn horcruxes for the most part of last year and... and then all that and... I just think it'd be... it'd be nice to do something different than be on the lookout for dark stuff. At least for a while. You know?"

He looked back over to George who had started picking at some grime stuck to a tile.

"So you gonna go back to school then?"

"I guess... I mean, not that I really want to, but... you know Hermione. I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't. And I'll make damn sure Harry gets dragged along as well. No way am I gonna go there without him."

"He'll be delighted"

Ron smirked. "Who cares."

Then he turned serious and cast a glance at George again. "So, er... what, what about you? Are you... you know..." he swallowed. "Are you gonna reopen the shop?"

George didn't seem surprised or angry at the question, Ron was relieved to observe, but he didn't look back at him. He just stared up at the sky for a while.

"Actually, I've been thinking of going away."

"WHAT? What do you mean? Go away? Where?" Ron just stopped himself in time before saying 'why?'.

George heaved a sigh. "Not for ever. Just... travel for a while. With Lee you know? We... me'n Fred I mean..." he gulped, "we'd been planning that with him before.

"Except for that one trip to Egypt we've never been out of this country. So we thought it'd be nice to tour Europe for a while. For a few months. Visit Charlie and stuff "

He shrugged.

"So... how long, I mean... when do you wanna leave? Have you told mum about that?"

George sighed again. "Nah... not yet. But, I really wanna do it. I... I think I owe it to him."

He pressed his lips together. "We had already made plans. Picked out places we wanted to see'n stuff. And... I need to get away from here anyway. I know everybody means well, but..."

Ron stared at him. "I think... I think that's a great idea. He..." he took a shuddering breath, "he would have wanted you two to go."

"I know"

George stared ahead of him with an empty expression. "I know he would have. Stupid git."

Ron looked away as George brushed over his eyes with his sleeve and took several unsteady breaths.

Again they were both silent.

"But... you're... you're not gonna... sell the shop, are you?" Ron asked cautiously after a while.

"I'll only be gone for a few months you prat, of course I won't sell it."

"Yeah, of course not, sorry." Ron mentally kicked himself. How could he ask George if he was gonna sell the shop he had built up together with Fred?

"But..." George contemplated another piece of dirt intently, "...well, I just don't know how... how I'll do that. I...It's too much work just for... for one. But... to hire somebody..."

He shrugged and looked like a lost little boy.

Ron suddenly found himself hugging George to him. He heard George gasp against his shoulder, obviously not having expected this. Ron was just as surprised at what he was doing as his brother but he didn't let go. He hugged him even harder instead, needing to be hugged back just as bad right now as he wanted George to feel better.

After a moment of hesitation he could feel George's arms coming around him and his head resting against his shoulder.

Then after another moment he could feel George starting to shake and his own tears spilling over as his brother sobbed against his shoulder.

It felt like a eternity passed while they sat like this. Holding on to each other even after their tears had finally stopped.

Suddenly Ron could hear George chuckle against him.

He leaned back and stared at him through blood shot eyes questioningly.

"Well," George said, "it's just that he'd take the mickey out of us if he could see us like this..."

Ron smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure he's having a laughing fit right now. From where ever he's looking at us."

George smiled back shakily and wiped away the last remnants of his tears.

A little self conscious of their close proximity they both scurried back a few centimetres and sat in silence once more. George didn't look any happier as far as he could tell but a lot calmer than before.

Ron fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, trying to work out how to voice what he was thinking out loud. The idea had actually crossed his mind before tonight, but he had never seriously considered it until now.

He cleared his throat.

"So, you know, about all this future stuff…" unsure of how to go on he glanced at George again.

"Hm? What about it?" George looked back at him

Ron took a deep breath. "Well, I thought about something. And if you think it's crap just tell me, you know, because that's cool. I mean it was only a thought really. It's…er, I mean, I could, you know..."

George smiled a little "Just spit it out will ya?"

Ron took another deep breath and tried to organize his thoughts.

"Well you know how I told you I wasn't so bend on becoming an auror right away? Even if we finish this year at school I still think I'd really just like something… something fun to do. Not that the auror training might not be fun. 'specially with Harry, but…"

He heaved an exasperated sigh. "Ok, what I mean is, if you… when you open up the shop again next year I could… I could come and you know… help you out?"

He hadn't looked at George while talking and kept staring at his hands after finishing his little speech, waiting for him to say something.

When George still hadn't answered after what seemed like several minutes he finally turned his head in his brother's direction.

George sat looking at him with a curious smile. "Just trying to picture you in magenta robes" he finally said.

"So that's a 'yes' then?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Well, I could use someone to clean and organize the storage room" George smirked.

"Hey, come on, I'd be really good with customers! I'd sell all your stuff in no time!"

"'Cause you're so good with the ladies, eh?" George's smirk widened.

Ron made a face at him in mock annoyance. "No, honestly. I think I could help you... you know to come up with new stuff. I mean, I have about ten months to think up ideas after all."

"Well, if you're not too scared that Hermione will find out you're not spending all your time in preparation of your tests..."

"Well, I wanna earn money right away for her, too, so she shouldn't complain." Ron murmured while looking around for anything remotely stone shaped that hadn't yet been chucked into the garden.

George snorted. "Oh, you thought there was gonna be pay in it? But seriously, why do you need money so bad?"

"Cause you know…" Ron looked at his hands again sheepishly, "I really need to earn some money by this time next year, cause I don't have any now and I really wanted to... you know... get Hermione something special for her birthday, but well, I can't and I'll really need to make up for that next year."

He could hear George heave an exasperated sigh beside him. "You know, if she was in this for all your money and the expensive presents I think she would have gone for Harry by now."

Ron elbowed him in the ribs, "Oh shut up!"

George smirked. "Just tell me how much you need and I'll give you an advance payment wich you can work off."

Ron stared at him. "You're giving me money?"

"Did you just listen? Good grief, successful business men don't just give money away. Remind me not to let you work the register!" George said shaking his head in mock disbelieve.

Ron felt his face split into a huge grin, despite just having been insulted. "Thanks George!"

He hugged his brother again who tried to protest this time.

"Oi, enough of that already!"

But Ron could hear that he was smiling. He pulled back and looked at George. "But I really mean it. I know that... well, it's... your shop and all. And I promise I won't mess up!"

George looked up into the night and took a deep breath. His voice wavered a little as he spoke. "I think he would like the idea. I know he'd want me to continue with it... it's what I would want. But I really don't want any strangers in there. And... I guess I could need some help in getting new stuff together. After all..." he smirked a little "...it's always good to have a some one at hand to test the stuff."

"We'll just invite Harry over" Ron sad, a smirk on his lips as well.

"Spoken like a Weasley" George said while getting up and stretching his arms. "Well, I'll leave you to your letter now", he said picking up his broom and swinging one leg over it.

"Are you going to bed?"

"Nah, I think I'll fly some more till I'm tired enough. See ya in the morning Ronniekins."

With that he took off before Ron had a chance to say anything more. He watched him fly into the night until his silhouet vanished behind some tall trees.

Feeling suddenly quite exhausted he let himself fall back and stared up at the slowly moving clouds. After a while of thinking back over the conversation he'd just had with his brother he picked up Hermione's letter once more. Hugging it to him he closed his eyes and smiled.

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So, there you are, that's it! Before I started writing this I pictured their conversation differently, but again it just seemed to take on a life of it's own.

Not really much of a plot, but I had fun

Hope you liked it and if you did I'd really appreciate it if you left me a review!

As always: Please excuse the typos/ grammar errors!


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